Republican centrists join Democrats on cuts

[Joanne98]

Source: Politico


House Democrats and more centrist Republicans joined forces in a series of spending votes Wednesday, scoring quick wins and sending the clearest sign yet of second thoughts in the GOP over the depth of reductions demanded by the party’s new tea party supporters.

In the second day of late-night debate, Republican freshmen again captured the headlines — tipping the scales against a costly Pentagon engine program that was the subject of fierce Washington lobbying in the prior Congress. But the re-emergence of the centrists is telling, putting the brakes on further domestic cuts and helping to restore programs backed by the White House.

Sixty-eight Republicans, backed Democrats in defense of preserving at least reduced funding for legal aid to the poor, for example. Minutes later, 70 Republicans joined 158 Democrats on a 228-203 vote that restored $280 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services or COPS program, a favorite initiative of Vice President Joe Biden. And given the power of the firefighter lobby, the dike seemed to break when as many as 132 Republicans backed an amendment by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) to restore $510 million for Homeland Security grants for first responders.

Under the rules of debate, any increase must be matched by cuts elsewhere, but Democrats saw the victories as important nonetheless as a statement of their priorities.





Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49697.html

[liberal N proud]

1. The Teabaggers are to the GOP what the Blue Dogs are to Dems.

[CBHagman]

2. Thanks for posting this; I've seen emphasis on the other side.

That is, I've noticed a media focus on Boehner being unable to control the tea party element. It's refreshing to hear that centrism lives in the Republican Caucus, even if it's in short supply.

During the G.W. Bush administration, I used to read of a "war on cops" conducted via funding reductions, especially for community policing. I'm glad to see signs of bipartisan support for COPS right now.

On edit: It will be interesting to see if this spirit carries over to funding for other programs, like family planning or public broadcasting.

[w4rma]

3. These are probably things that should be cut. And they are taking funding from things that shouldn't

be cut.

[florida08]

4. a good sign..for now

GE and Rolls don't need public funding and NASA should not be a priority at this point in time, but the biggest elephant are the occupations. If we're so broke how to we justify those?

[bossy22]

5. NASA should be a priority

investments in NASA are investments in our future. a great deal of the work NASA has done has directly translated into our everyday life. NASA has always been on the forefront of science and technology- both of which are essential for us to keep being prosperous

[florida08]

6. sorry

But I don't see what could possibly be on Mars that would help the middleclass right now. Let them get private funding if it's so important

[lastofseven]

7. NASA Employs the Middle Class

I agree that the country needs to prioritize and this may or may not have been a proper vote, but I'm sorry, that last post is the biggest myth that NASA detractors perpetuate. NASA doesn't put a a bunch of money in a rocket and launch it into space. NASA and its contractors employ the very people Democrats are supposed to be wanting to help: the middle class. I work at such a facility and when I look around I see a composite of society from diverse backgrounds. Not only the scientists and engineers but also:

* The admins
* The security staff
* The custodial staff
* Landscapers
* Plumbers
* Architects
* Environmental protection
* Etc.

And when these people get home, guess what, they also spend their paychecks putting others to work. In the meantime, my colleagues are rewriting the science textbooks that all those Wisconsin teachers are using in the classroom to inspire kids to get good paying jobs in high tech.

And this doesn't even delve into the scientific and technological benefit of NASA the previous poster mentioned. Leaving beside the point that comparative planetary science provides a means to use other planets to understand Earth, NASA doesn't just go to Mars. It launches the satellites that attain the data for the climate change proponents that run rampant on DU boards. It develops the winglets on the airplanes that have saved millions of barrels of oil. Heck, it helped the Chilean miners last summer. It's a long list.

Granted this post is a little overkill for a single snide remark, but I'm just sick and tired of people belittling both science in this country and the work that thousands of middle class workers perform to advance human knowledge. Democrats used to be about knowledge ("We choose to go to the Moon..."-JFK), I wish I knew what happened.